Playing Wright

Chapter 4: Father & Son

Kyle...

I waved to the security guard as I drove up to the large gate that had just opened up in front of me.

"Hey Mr. Greg," I said.

"Kyle, it's good to see you man," he smiled at me. "Congrats on that winning shot at the game. You had my whole house going crazy!"

"Thanks man," I chuckled.

I gave a quick wave again and continued driving down the short driveway. Once I was parked in my usual spot, I got out and looked at the massive house in front of me. Mom and dad really went all out when it came to this house. It's a bummer that I never really lived here.

After they got married, mom and I moved out of the apartment and into a house Eli had bought. It wasn't a mansion, but it was still huge. I spent most of my teen years in that house.

But after mom's big idea to open up the publishing company, they decided New York would be the best place to move and bought this big ass mansion. They only moved when I graduated and got to college, as they didn't want me to have to move again when I only had a year left. So, I literally spent maybe 2 months here before I moved out of state for school. It turned into the cool place I came to hang out at on holidays.

The door opened and out walked my dad.

"You made it," he said.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked.

He chuckled. "No Kyle, you're not."

As I had predicted, family lunch did not go too well. Mom was pretty upset and made sure we all knew. Dad tried his best to keep the peace. I had planned to go no contact for a while to give mom some space, but I had to ditch that when dad called this morning asking me to come over.

He gestured for me to come inside and I followed. We walked through the massive house and my eyes were peeled for any clue of my mom.

"She's not here, she's out with Krissy," dad said, easing my nervousness.

We eventually made it to the back, where the basketball court was. He grabbed the basketball off the rack and tossed it my way.

"Up for a game?" He asked.

"I should be asking you that. Are you sure your old knees aren't gonna give out on you again?" I grinned.

"You're never gonna let me forget that, are you?"

"Nah," I said before dribbling the ball on the court.

Long before mom and dad were married, when they pretended that they didn't have feelings for each other, Dad, who was just Eli to me then, used to take me out to play basketball and just talk. At 12, I needed a man around to talk to, and he easily became that. It's been 12 years since, and we still do it.

In those 12 years, Eli has always been there for me. Taught me everything I needed to know about responsibility, love, the dreaded sex, and how to just be a man on a whole. We've grown so close that even my mother, who's been there my whole life, gets a little jealous. Sometimes, I've even forgotten that my actual father didn't want me.

Sometimes.

We played for a while before dad started getting tired.

"See, I knew you couldn't handle it," I laughed.

"Shut up!" he said, making his way to the bench and sitting down. He grabbed the water bottle that was next to him and took a chug.

"So, are you going to tell me what this game is about?" I asked.